A Manila city councilor has sought the cancellation of building and construction permits issued for a condominium project of Federal Land Inc. (FLI), which has an ongoing land ownership dispute with another developer.
Citing the interests of the public, 3rd District Councilor Manuel Zarcal filed a resolution on September 8 directing the Office of the City Engineer to revoke the building permit and zoning permit it issued to Four Seasons Riviera Condominiums in 2010.
Zarcal cited the July 26 decision of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) suspending the license to sell of FLI and the Manila-based Central Realty and Development Corp. pending the resolution of a civil case filed by Solar Resources Inc. before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 6.
Solar is insisting that it is the lawful owner of the 7,350-square meter land at the corner of Muelle Dela Industria and Prensa & Numancia streets in Binondo where the four towers of the 30-story Four Seasons Riviera Condominiums are being built.
Zarcal said buyers might be implicated if FLI and Central Realty are allowed to sell their condominium units and continue the development of the site despite the ongoing legal case.
“Under Section 458 (par. 4) of the Local Government Code, the city council is empowered to regulate activities relative to the use of land, buildings and structures within the city in order to promote the general welfare,” Zarcal said in his resolution.
In a privilege speech delivered at the session hall on Tuesday, Zarcal said he was particularly concerned about the welfare of his constituents in District 3 when he read about the HLURB ruling on the condominium project in the newspapers.
In a ruling penned by arbiter Raymundo Foronda, HLURB said the reason it temporarily barred FLI and Central Realty from selling units of the Four Seasons Riviera Condominiums is to protect the buying public.
“As a precautionary measure for the protection of the buying public, there is a need to suspend the license to sell pending resolution of the issue of ownership over the property,” the resolution read, adding it would be more prudent to wait for the final results of the civil case filed by Solar to protect the buying public.
Solar accused Central Realty of misrepresenting itself as the legal owner of the property which the late Dolores Molina purchased from Central Realty way back 1993.
After buying the 7,350-square-meter lot, Molina opted to let the land title remain in the name of Central Realty after it promised to settle the huge taxes it owed the government.
When Solar bought the land from Molina in 2013 for P124 million, it has its deed of sale and adverse claim annotated at the back of the land title.
The HLURB explained in its decision that since the adverse claim of Solar is annotated at the back of the title, “it cannot be said that the land covered by TCT 198996 is free from all liens and encumbrances as required under Section 4 of PD 957” or the Subdivision and Condominium Buyer’s Protective Decree of 1976.
When Molina died six months later in 2013, Solar substituted her as plaintiff in the civil case she had originally filed against Central Realty and FLI.
It was only in 2010 that Molina discovered that Central Realty mortgaged the land for P257 million and that it agreed to a joint-venture agreement with FLI to develop a residential building on the property.
FLI is the real estate company of GT Capital Holdings, Inc. of George Ty, a Chinese-Filipino tycoon and founder of Metrobank. Ty is the current chairman of GT Capital Holdings, Inc.
